Top Seven Travel Essentials for Your Next Trip Abroad: Part Three

In the first two parts of this series (part one and part two) I told you everything you need to know if you bring a smartphone and/or tablet to a foreign country with you. It’s something that many people have questions about. If you haven’t read that, go ahead and do that now.

This post will be about the kind of credit card you’ll need while crisscrossing the globe. Seriously, though! What’s the point in going - if you can’t bring back some foreign treasure, or try the foreign cuisine - without being penalized by your bank for using your card outside of the U.S.?

Credit card with no foreign transaction fee

Many credit card issuers will charge their cardholders 1-3% of the value of the transactions processed outside the U.S. That means for every $100 you spend in a foreign country, you could be paying $3 more on top of that.

That is why I recommend getting (or bringing) a credit card with no foreign transaction fee. It can ultimately end up saving you a lot of money.  

I have several no foreign transaction fee credit cards including my Chase Sapphire Preferred, Barclaycard Arrival Plus, Hyatt, and IHG. Many sites - including Nerdwallet - list the CSP and the Arrival Plus among the best credit cards for international travel. And I’d agree. And I’m not even getting paid to say that unlike a lot of these other sites.

To add, not only do these cards eliminate that foreign transaction fee, they typically come with some other perks that are pretty good as well. Both the sign-up bonus, and purchases for the CSP and Arrival Plus accrue points that can dramatically reduce the cost of a trip.
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To be continued…

Now that you know what to do in order to avoid paying extra fees that can add up quickly during that next vacation of yours, there’s something else you’ll want to bring that can go a long way to keeping you sane on the plane ride there and back. What that is in my next post on the Top Seven Travel Essentials for Your Next Trip Abroad.


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